So this is what happened.
On the first leg of my flight out west back in March, I started writing a response to Brandon grading us on our quizzes (Remember that back in the olden days?), but then I got stuck overnight in Detroit, which goofed up the beginning of my trip and derailed all my bloggy plans. A quick note now: Brandon, I loved that you graded us on our posts, and you are so right that I also read Manohla Dargis in the NYT. I always forget things when I try to make lists. You guys are all … Read the rest
“We have no control over anything large in life; only the small details are under our direct management. But even then, we lack any real authority.”
-Augusten Burroughs in This is How
Guys, we have some catching up to do.
Since I moved up the street from the Little, I go there to see a movie at least once a week, so I’ve seen a lot of movies. I got behind on blog reading (again–this may be endemic), but I caught up over the last few days, and now I want to talk about Amour.
Because, as this … Read the rest
January 17, 2013 – 10:06 pm
Tiffany: You let me lie to you for a week?
Pat: I was trying to be romantic.
-Silver Linings Playbook
I told you this was how it was going to be, with the revising. It’s bye-bye Looper, hello Silver Linings Playbook.
1. Your Sister’s Sister
2. The Master
3. Brave
4. Silver Linings Playbook
5. Moonrise Kingdom
6. Finding Nemo 3D
7. Shut Up and Play the Hits
8. Beasts of the Southern Wild
9. Django Unchained
10. Celeste and Jesse Forever
There’s a moment in Silver Linings Playbook when Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany tells Bradley Cooper’s Pat … Read the rest
January 8, 2013 – 8:59 pm
I should really watch more 2012 releases before I make a list (and, per usual, I’m worried that I’m forgetting something I did see), but what the heck. Let’s call it a first draft.
1. Your Sister’s Sister
2. The Master
3. Brave
4. Moonrise Kingdom
5. Finding Nemo 3D
6. Shut Up and Play the Hits
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
8. Django Unchained
9. Celeste and Jesse Forever
10. Looper
I thought I hadn’t written about Your Sister’s Sister, but it seems I did. That film edges out The Master for me, which is saying something. … Read the rest
January 3, 2013 – 6:13 am
I feel like I must have gotten the idea to watch Strangers on a Train from someone in Film Club, but it could have been from an article or something. I don’t remember. Anyway, I was surprised to find that this film didn’t suck me in from the start. The main character, Guy, is the problem. He’s bland, and Farley Granger plays him so woodenly that it’s hard to pay attention to him or care what happens to him. Robert Walker completely outshines Granger with his portrayal of bat-shit crazy Bruno, but Bruno isn’t enough to carry the film because … Read the rest
December 25, 2012 – 8:31 pm
One of our traditions is that we always watch a movie either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The last few years, we’ve watched Elf, which is why it got a place on my Best Films of the Aughts list. Truly, though, I’ve seen enough Elf and so asked if we could please, please watch something else, and Lucas asked if we could please, please watch Napoleon Dynamite, which we’ve been meaning to watch together for a while now.
Napoleon Dynamite is like ice skating with us adults: Ron and I LOVE it, and Tammy kind of … Read the rest
December 22, 2012 – 3:57 pm
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
-Gollum’s riddle in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Last night, I celebrated the end of the world by getting together with friends for dinner. They came here, and they brought dinner because while I am more settled by the day and finally cooking again, I’m mostly baking and actual meals are as spotty as my posts have been here the last couple weeks. I was at least together enough to have wine on … Read the rest
November 14, 2012 – 10:34 am
Once again, Film Club has descended into the male members demonstrating their affection for one another through insults. Lisa popped in to contribute to our latest discussion, which I’ll be getting to way at the end of this post, and we had an even rarer visit from Tara. Lisa and Tara tried to interject sanity into Film Club, but, sadly, sanity is not what rules Film Club.
Before I get to the task everyone’s been harassing me about, I want to show you what I expect to be the number one film on every Film Club member’s Best of 2012 … Read the rest
September 24, 2012 – 7:30 pm
“This happens. This is something that happens.”
-Stanley in Magnolia
There are multiple scenes in The Master in which characters sit across from one another, focusing in, unblinking, asking basic questions: “What is your name? What is your name? What is your name?” This is what Paul Thomas Anderson has been doing throughout his filmmaking career, sitting across from audiences and asking us to see human beings we might let our eyes slide over in the real world.
But Anderson has us trapped in a movie theater, and he dares us to look.
Some people get up and walk out. … Read the rest
“We like to talk big, vampires do. ‘I’m going to destroy the world.’ It’s just tough guy talk. Struttin’ around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You’ve got dog racing, Manchester United, and you’ve got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It’s all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester bloody Square. You know what I’m saying?”
-Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Becoming, Part 2,” Season … Read the rest
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